


Chivalry

by tatertotarmy



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Blood, Blood and Injury, Character Study, Gen, Peculiarity Zine: A FE Small Writers Zine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:09:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25296688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatertotarmy/pseuds/tatertotarmy
Summary: A single hitched breath. A hand pressing into his side, as though the pressure would chase away the pain.“Prince Xander.” A soldier on horseback approached; Xander didn’t look up. “Are you sure we should continue? You - ”“I can manage,” Xander rose a hand from the reins to wave him off, “We’ll keep moving.”--Written for Peculiarity: A FE Small Writers Zine
Kudos: 7





	Chivalry

A single hitched breath. A hand pressing into his side, as though the pressure would chase away the pain.

“Prince Xander.” A soldier on horseback approached; Xander didn’t look up. “Are you sure we should continue? You - ”

“I can manage,” Xander rose a hand from the reins to wave him off, “We’ll keep moving.” He took in a deep breath, burying the fire in his side and looked onward, where a small, Nohrian village sat, surrounded by fields lined with wilting harvests, dirt greying with ash. He spared one glance down to his side, his injury thankfully concealed by a spare set of armor. 

It was fine. He could manage just one march through a single little village. He could wait until sunset, off where only troops could see the full damage.

After all, he could already see citizens wandering out of their houses, eyes locked on the coming battalion. It would be...alarming to see the crown prince - a knight, a defender of the people - stop for something like this. He could bear it. 

As they approached, he kept his head high, both hands clenched tightly around the reins of his horse. Clear as day, he could see the smiles and undeniable relief spread on every villager’s face. Already he could hear the happy discourse swelling in the air, growing ever louder with every step they took. And why wouldn’t this village be happy? Another rebellion - another group of traitors to Nohr - had been defeated. 

The first words he heard as he crossed the first building only confirmed it.

_“Thank goodness they won…”_

_“True knights of Nohr, they are.”_

Though as Xander listened and spared smiles to several villagers, one thought crossed his mind:

If the villagers knew the true reality of the matter, would they still smile? 

Would they congratulate him and his soldiers for an extermination?

Xander closed his eyes for a moment as another wave of pain pulsed through his body. And behind his eyelids all he could see was that horrifying sight. Frail bodies huddled in an old fortress, rusted weapons stockpiled in corners. The weak and elderly hidden behind wooden doors, trembling with every noise around them. Unanswered pleas for help echoed between bloodied stone and crimson steel. White flags twisted in the mud, red spreading out from drops of blood seeping in.

He took in another breath, desperately using all of his willpower to keep his hand away from the burning in his side. And he kept upright. Kept smiling. Kept reminding himself of two facts: one, his father ordered the extermination; and two, this was simply his duty as a knight of Nohr. 

After all, knights had sworn duties to the people. He had to defend the weak, like this village, tormented by the nearby rebellion, unable to protect their dwindling supplies (nevermind the sight of men on their knees, begging for mercy as the blade aimed for their throats). He needed to have courage and face the enemies that others could not face (nevermind he, a skilled swordsman, facing off against men who had never held a blade in their lives). And he had a duty to the king, his father, and he was to serve his country with dignity (nevermind the explicit order for extermination, to leave no traitor alive, no matter how much they begged). 

This was his duty to the people. If he had to swallow his own morality, to twist his kinder nature into something wrong, so be it. If he had to bear the sins of a nation on his back for a better future, he would tie them all onto his body until it broke and withered away. After all, Nohr was dying. It was marred by failing harvests and an endlessly prosperous neighbor that refused to send aid, no matter how dire Nohr’s plight became. The knightly code needed to be bent. And Xander had no hesitation on twisting it with his own hands.

“Prince Xander…?”

Xander pulled on the reins, stopping his horse. He looked down at a young woman standing not too far from him, a single apple - a rarity in Nohr, nowadays - clutched protectively in her hand. Slowly, she looked up at him, and as she did, another wave of pain stabbed through him, and he closed his eyes.

_“I’ll never forgive you.”_

_A woman stood in the center of the fortress, uninjured but stained with the blood of her fellow rebels. Wrapped around her - as if a mocking gesture to the soldiers - was a bloodied flag of Nohr, cut with a large X in the center. And held in front of her with trembling hands was a rusted blade._

_And she screamed. And she charged. And in her eyes, Xander could see all the rage in the world._

_And in seconds, she was dead._

“Thank you…”

Xander opened his eyes, seeing the woman reaching up, offering the apple to him, a bright smile on her face.

He took another breath, reaching out to accept it. But then another pain coursed through him, and his hand shot to his side. 

The woman’s smile dropped, replaced with concern. 

And in seconds, Xander swallowed it down, forcing a smile on his face and removing the hand, instead reaching down to take the apple from her, “Thank you.”

Her smile quickly returned, and Xander hoped that he acted quick enough so that she wouldn’t think about it later. It was easier to be an ideal knight to the people, to do as much as he could in the light. Bending the rules, following the orders of a father he questioned more and more by the day, and fulfilling a duty to his country were things he could attend to in the dark. 

And he hardly wanted to know how the people would react to necessary but horrifying measures.

Xander took in another breath and looked down at the apple in his hand. And along his gloved fingers, he could see a stroke of wetness. He grabbed the apple with his other hand, pulling it away...

Revealing a maroon handprint, blood dripping down the bottom.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this fic, please check out the free zine it was included in: Peculiarity, the FE Small Writer Zine. 
> 
> https://twitter.com/fesmallwriter/status/1286797667348119556


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